Gluten-Free Rhubarb Pie & Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Gluten-Free Pastry (from The Gluten Free Gourmet Cookbook):

Ingredients:
1 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cornstarch
1 rounded tsp xanthan gum
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp vinegar
2-3 tbsp ice water

Steps:
In a medium bowl, whisk the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening. In a separate bowl, beat egg with vinegar and cold water. Stir into the flour mixture until the pastry holds together and forms a ball (she says that kneading will not toughen the dough... which, after years of baking with wheat, is so strange to me).

Form two balls, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove and roll one ball at a time between two silpats (or plastic wrap/wax paper/parchment paper dusted with sweet rice flour). To place in the pie tin, remove the top sheet and gently invert the dough and drop into the pan. Remove the second sheet. For a crust to be used later, bake at 450 for 10 minutes.
(Makes enough dough for a double-crusted pie)


Rhubarb Filling:

Ingredients:
1 pound rhubarb, thinly sliced
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp millet flour (or cornstarch)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Steps:
Combine all ingredients to coat each piece of rhubarb.

Once the bottom crust is pressed into the pie plate, fill with Rubarb and cover with the last ball of dough (again, rolled out between two sheets). I found that the crust was pretty crumbly so I didn't bother making a proper crust edge. I just placed the top layer of dough gently over top and tucked it in. Place in a 350 oven for approximately 45-50 minutes.

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (technique and recipe from David Lebovitz):

The best part about this ice cream is that it doesn't require an ice cream maker. If you have one, great! Use it! But if you don't (like me), this technique is fantastic.

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium pot until the sugar is dissolved. Meanwhile, set up an ice bath in a large bowl and place a smaller bowl inside it. Set a strainer over the bowl and pour in the 2 cups of cream. Lightly beat the egg yolks in a small bowl and slowly pour in some of the hot milk mixture while constantly whisking so you don't get scrambled eggs!

Once the yolks are warmed up, scrape them into the rest of the milk mixture and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Keep cooking until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard directly into the cream. Stir until cooled and add the vanilla extract. From here (if you don't have a machine), follow this method.

It may not be the prettiest thing in the kitchen  but it was really good.

Hope you are enjoying your summer days. They're going by too quickly!

KEP

PS. As always, if you wanted to make a wheat version of this recipe, simply use a different recipe for the pie crust. Before going gluten-free my family always used a version of this recipe (sometimes with vegetable shortening). I also recommend  all butter pastry dough.